1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a water repellent film, a nozzle plate, an inkjet head, and an inkjet recording device and, in particular, relates to a technique for a water repellent film which includes a straight-chain fluorine-containing silane coupling agent.
2. Description of the Related Art
When ink is attached to the surface of a nozzle plate in inkjet heads which are used in inkjet recording devices, this has an influence on ink droplets which are discharged from the nozzles and variations may occur in the discharge direction of the ink droplets. When there is variation in the discharge direction of the ink droplets, it is difficult to land the ink droplets at a predetermined position on a recording medium, which is a factor which deteriorates image quality.
For this reason, by forming a water repellent film on a nozzle plate surface, ink is prevented from attaching to the nozzle plate surface and the discharge performance is improved. For example, JP2008-544852A discloses a fluid ejector which has a non-wetting monolayer so as to cover at least a portion of an external surface of the fluid ejector and to surround an orifice of the fluid ejector.
In addition, JP2010-511533A discloses a liquid discharging device which has a first surface, a second surface, and an orifice which is able to discharge a liquid which comes into contact with the second surface. JP2010-511533A discloses that there is a non-wettable layer, which is exposed on at least the first surface of the liquid discharging device, and a protective layer which is exposed on the second surface, where the protective layer is more wettable than the non-wettable layer.
In JP2008-544852A and JP2010-511533A, FOTS (tridecafluoro-1,1,2,2-tetrahydrooctyltrichlorosilane) which is a FAS (fluoroalkyl silane) based material, and 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecyltrichlorosilane (FDTS) are used as precursors for forming a non-wettable layer.